Deciding on a baby name? Steer clear of these because they’re the most common among MURDERERS

Some of the suggestions are so common you're bound to be surprised

By Hannah Ferrett

16th March 2017, 11:48 am

Updated: 17th March 2017, 11:37 am

NO ONE wants to lumber their child with a truly bizarre name, but being called the same thing as five other people in the class isn't great either.

Now there's something new to consider, as it turns out some names are highly associated with MURDERERS.

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Picking a baby name is hard, but you might want to think twice before opting for one of these

Linda Rosenkrantz of Nameberry.com has come up with several lists of names linked to criminals - and some of them will shock you.

First up she looked to America, where there is a lot of data available. Looking into arrests per 100,000 people, she discovered a list of the top murderer names... and they won't be as weird as you're expecting.

Top murderer names

Alan

Harold

Russell

Daniel

Justin

She added: "A home security company released the most common criminal name in each US state.

"Particularly interesting to me were the large number of criminals who went by nicknames: Johnny, Randy, Bobby, Willie, Terry, Billy.

"Others in more than one state: Juan, Jeremy, Jesse, Lawrence. Surprising ones were Scott, Justin, Kyle, Joshua. There were only two women: Melissa and Theresa."

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The most common name among people who were arrested was Jeremy, with Brandon, Jason, Timothy and Roy all featuring too.

But who knew the seemingly innocuous name James has links to crime too? It's the same story for Paul and John.

Linda's next list came via some research done by police in Liverpool, who looked at the most common names for criminals.

Baby names with links to criminals

James

Michael

John

Paul

Stephen

Anthony

David

Thomas

Lee

Christopher

Of course, it could just be that some names are so popular there are bound to be more criminals with them.

There have even been studies on whether names are linked to a person's criminal tendencies.

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Apparently, going for a nickname isn't a very good idea

One discovered that people with unpopular names are more likely to get in trouble with the law. In fact, for every 10 per cent increase in a name's popularity, the amount of young criminals called it reduced by four per cent.

You're probably less likely to go for one of the next list, as it's of the most infamous killers in history.

Most infamous killer names

Clyde

Kray

Adolph

Attila

Vlad

Ilse

Myra

Aileen

Linda added: "Takeaway? You might want to avoid vintage nicknames on the birth certificate and stay away from Hannibal and Adolph."

Finally, the expert noted a US trend for violent baby names which could be making its way to the UK.

Initially reported in 2015 the trend is still going strong, with parents seemingly opting to pay tribute to guns when naming their little ones.